Process of evaporating solutions in which salt is precipitated.



B. BLOCK.

PBOOESS 0P EVAPOBATING SOLUTIONS IN WHICH SALT IS PREOIPITATBD.

APPLICATION FILED DBO. 6, 1909.

Patented 0015.24, 1911.

salt is precipitated.

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- salts settle on the heating surfaces and thus prevent the transmission of heat. This incrustation on the heating. surface is almost entirely obviated by preventing evaporation on the same and the concentration occasioned thereby, and by heating the solution here only slightly above the boiling point.

The heated solution is then supplied to an oipitated an the solution through the descending pipe I; into the salt separator c. In consequence of the large cross-sectional area of the salt sep-' evaporator which is at a lower pressure than the heater, so that the superflous heat is liberated and evaporates a portion of the liquid. The salts precipitated in consequence of the evaporatlon and concentration 'may be collected in various ways without their contacting with the heating surface.

Some constructional forms of apparatus for car ing my process into practice .are shown iagrammatically and by way of example in the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is an elevation partly'in section showmg one form, and Fig. 2 a l1ke v1ew showing a modified form. i

Referring to the. drawing, a designates an ordinary eva orator in'which the salt 'is prefalls in known manner with arator the solution moves so slowly'therein that the salthas time to settle. The salt can g. The solution is here heated by a then be removed 'from the tank c manually pump e lifts or by mechanical conveyers. A .thesolution liberated from salt t rough pipe (1 from tank 0 and forces it through the ascending pipe f into the heating apparatus eating medium, e. g. steam, to the required tem- [rature' order to pass on through pipe h P8 orator a; In the evaporator mto the. evap maintained in known manner by means de Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed December 6, 1909. Serial which the following is a s'pec'i- "of the hotter Patented Oct. 24, 1911. in. 531,653.

scribed hereinafter a lower pressure than in the heating apparatus and connecting pipe it so that the superheated solution'is rtially evaporated and salt precipitated, -Rlhile a portion of the salt settles in the separator 0 the brine is lifted by pump 6 through pipe d and the described cycle of operations is repeated, fresh solution being supplied from a receptacle -m arranged above and in communication with thepipe d to the system.

Consequently the solutionis maintained in constant circulation by pump e and bymeans of this pump the velocity in the heating tubes can be raised to so high a point that it is impossible for suspended admixtures to be deposited therein. This is not possible in the old evaporators which maintaln their circulation only solution and the specifically lighter mixture of steam and solution in the ascending p pe, because this impelling force 1s very soon overcome by the necessary, great velocity of the solution and therefore suflicient velocity cannot be obtained. Since the resistances increase with the square of the velocity and since velocities of liquid of at least 0.8 meters per second come into consideration, which can not 'beproduced by difference of buoyancy, incrustations can only be completely avoided by using a special pump which conveys the liquid with the necessary velocity through the tubes. For

by means of the buoyancy.

increasing the action, the pump pressure is so adjusted with the aid of the means described hereinafter that impossible. v

The employment of pumps for moving solutions in evaporating apparatusis wellknown, but in no case has the pump been "so all boiling in the heater and ascending or connecting pipe is used heretofore in evaporating apparatuses for the express purpose of produclng' a velocity of the liquid of over 0:8 meters per second, when it is impossible for suspended particles to settle, and for simultaneously the connecting pipe leading to the evaporator.

In'jorder to avoid the above described drawbacks, namelyevaporation in the asc'ending pipe f, pipe-k and in the heating apparatus g, I provide a pressure-regulating device '1', k wh1ch opposes such resistance to the outflow of solution that in the heating apparatus 9 and'pipe h and also, obviously,

producing such a pressure which prevents all evaporation in the heating system and in pipe f a pressure exists which renders evaporation here impossible. This excess pressure in pipe cated farther back toward the pump may be regulated, for example,-preferably by means of a valve. On the valve disk 11 there acts, on the one hand, the pressure in pipe it produced bythe pump and, on the other hand, the pressure produced by an air-pump in the evaporator a. By adjusting the tension of spring is the valve allows solution to flow tained by means of the action of the con denser with the air-pumpin the evaporator,

and the hot steam having a pressure of 1.5-

atmospheres corresponding to a tempera- I ture of approximately 111 C. Now since saturated brine at 1 atmosphere pressure boils at 108 C., in this case care only has to be taken, byregulating valve '5, that the brine remains at a pressure, of approximately 1.2 atmospheres in order certainly to avoid all boiling. Behind the valve disk i, thus in the evaporator a, the brine is relieved from pressure so that in consequence of the stored heat vigorousevaporation occurs at once in the evaporator. The .precipitation of salt can here proceed undisturbed because there are arranged in the evaporator chamher no heaters which would be incrusted. In this manner all incrustation disturbing working is avoided in the connecting body under high pressure and in the heating system.

Instead of the above described spring valve one loaded with a weight, or a gate valve, or a throttling nozzle according to Fig. 2, or any other well-known device may be employed which is adapted to ofier the resistance necessary for producing the required counter pressure to the solution continuously rapidly circulated by a pump or other mechanical apparatus. Owing to such a pressure regulating device in combination with the pump the position of the heating device is mdependent of that of the evaporator, since the excess pressure under which the solution must be in the heating device can be adjusted by the pump independently of this position. In cont-radlstinction to the evaporators customary heretofore, the heating device can be placed with the same favorable result at the side of or above the evaporator, and this is frequently of great advantage, because high buildings admitting h and in the apparatus loof the low position as required by the old arrangements are not always at disposaL.

In former evaporating apparatuses the evaporation of sodium chlorid solutions containing gypsum was particularly difficult because, when starting to heat the same, the gypsum is partially precipitated in consequence of its peculiar solvent conditions, as

is well-known, corresponding to the temperature and differs materially in its action in this respect from other salts In 100 parts of water there are dissolved: at 18 C. 0.259 parts of gypsum, at 38 C. 0.272 parts of gypsum, at 72 C. 0.255 parts of gypsum, and at 90 C. 0.222 parts of gypsum. a, If such a solution, e. g. a natural brine, be heated from 18 to 38 solve more gypsum. When heated still higher, however, the solvent power lessens, so that at 72 C. the same quantity is no .longer dissolved as at 18 C. When heated at still higher the superfluous gypsum is once precipitated because, 6. g. at 90 0., 0.259-.0.222=0.037 parts of gypsum can no longer be kept in solution. Such precipitations occur consequently, when evaporating salt solutions containing gypsum, in the heating apparatus g, andtherefore it was not possible heretofore to free the dry salt obtained from gypsum .if the gypsum was not precipitated by a special process before the evaporation of the salt solutions. My hereindescribed process of evaporating such solutions admits, however, of the inclusion in' the system of a mud collector because in my process no evaporation and precipitation of salt take place until the solution reaches the evaporating chamber. For collecting the C., the same would be able to disprecipitated gypsum a wide vessel 7 (Fig.

2) is preferably included in the pipe in in order to diminish the velocity of the solution to such an extentthat the gypsum'is deposited. This devicemay also serve simultaneously for collecting the mud carried along by the fresh solution. The inclusion of the mud collector thus admits of the production of better, purer salt without specially preliminarily purifying the solution.

It is to be understood that the described apparatus may also be constructed as a multiple apparatus without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

I claim:

v1. The herein described process of evaporating a solution from which salt is precipitated, consisting in forcing the solution under pressure in a continuous cycle of movement through a heater to an evaporator, and thence through the latter back to the former, in maintaining in the heater and in the pipe connecting the same with the evaporator such a high degree of pressure as to effect evaporation of the solution and precipitation of the salt exclusively in said evaporator, and in retarding the velocity of the so- 'lution during its passage through said con- 2. The herein-described process of eva orating a solution from which salt is precipitated, comprising a continuous cycle of operations which include the pumping of the solution into the heater through a pipe at a velocity of more than 0.8 meters per second, the passing of the solution from the heater through a connectin pipe having a wide vessel included therein into the evaporator, and the pumping of the solution from the evaporator back through the first-named pipe into said heater, whereby the degree of pressure in the heater and the second-named pipe is maintained so high as to efiect evaporation of-the solution and precipitation of the salt exclusively in said evaporator, the passage of'the solution through said vessel serving to reduce its velocity to an extent sufiicientto permit the precipitation of impurities in said solution and the collection of such impurities at the point where precipitation takes place.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

BERTHOLD BLOCK. Witnesses: v

H. GA'rzKA, L. SOHINDLER. 

